Robsidious

Overall I liked your post. I just have to note that all activists use social media. They'd be idiots not to. The notion that the internet is somehow distinct from all other aspects of our lives and doesn't really matter is absurd. It is without contest the best way to reach a large audience. Good point. My appraisal of 'Internet drama' wasn't intended to make such a distinction, nor was my saying that activists I know 'don't try to change the world using Twitter' meant literally. Every human being is an agent of change and all our interactions matter in some way, be that through word, deed or text. The Internet is an an invaluable means of communication and important facet of humanity for sure. I was simply trying to make the point that disparaging those who seek social justice based on some of the sillier stuff one finds online might not be giving due consideration to either the people involved or the issue at hand. It seems to me that the Internet can encourage this sort of narrow perspective in forum discussion. Regarding the best way to reach people, the Internet is certainly the most accessible means of media in developed countries and a very powerful tool. Of course the way to reach people on a given issue is a combination of actions depending upon context and one's goals and means; whether you're a grass roots activist, lawyer for Amnesty International or a politician. Granted, many people probably take Twitter more seriously than I do.

Mungri can I ask you a question? As a gay man how do you feel about some of these comments on this thread? Do you find comments like " homosexuality is not natural " annoying? Offensive? Or do you just not care. My gay friends seem to care less about gay rights than I do, they say things like " you will never change some peoples minds so why bother ". But I refuse to accept that. I don't need to change peoples minds, I just want to let people that homophobia is not acceptable I'm pretty much desensitised to such stuff after my father told me that he would have had me aborted if he knew I was going to turn out gay. It's things like this that make you realise why some people become passionate activists for social justice, no matter the significance of what their efforts may be. In this light I don't really understand the degree of enmity I see towards those labelled 'SJW's ((I am loathe to use this term myself, preferring to consider people's actions & arguments case by case and respond to those), however this could be because I don't pay much attention to Internet drama. The activists I know in real life don't try to change the world using twitter. After all, surely we can all agree that social justice is a good thing in itself, even if we disagree on exactly what that looks like. Likewise, surely we can sympathise with people like Erika being offended by the poem, even if we might see it as over-sensitive in this case and may take issue with the manner of some people's advocacy. Sometimes I wonder if it's the Internet that does weird things to people or if people were always this way. A bit of both probably. I personally didn't find Firedorn's poem outrageously offensive or worth bothering about. It was just 'a bit wrong or naughty' like some jokes tend to be. I did find it crass and unfunny though. It made me wonder why of all the things in the world you could leave on your memorial stone, why some silly poem. Even though I was eligible to leave something on a stone for all to see, I chose not to for fear of polluting the atmosphere of the game world with something out of context and inappropriate. Thank you Mungri for your posts. The first was hilarious, the second profound. No matter how things may be for you now with your family, I feel for you *virtual hug if you want one*

When I first backed Pillars I really didn't think it would end up looking so good, considering it was supposed to be made on such a modest budget. That mock screenie they knocked up during the kickstarter was impressive though and gave me high hopes, which have been completely blown away. This is probably the most beautiful game I've ever seen.

Modders are saints. Thank you! I assume/hope it's an in-game toggle, so we have the option to either walk or run as we like?

Feet. FEET!? A real gamer straps himself unto his chair and snaps his neck before even starting, then plays using his tongue and nose. A lifetime of handicap is no price too high for the true gaming experience. I have to admit you have a fair point, and it is indeed a far more rewarding challenge to use my face only to truly experience this game the way it was meant to be. Also, lending the neighbours cat and putting a significant amount of catnip on the keyboard enhanced this even further, my face may be utterly maimed but I finally find this game challenging enough. That's all well and good for casuals. I play using nothing but the power of positive thinking. Admittedly I have not managed to get very far or indeed even load the game using this method, yet I believe in myself.

Or perhaps they care about it too much? I personally don't see the issue with people claiming they don't want to play at all unless they can walk, even if I find that hard to relate to myself. I prefer to respect that that's their preference and prerogative. In any event, aren't those people a very small subset of all those who would like a walking option or would enjoy having the option? Options are good... and there's cookies involved.

What word would you prefer... engagement? Absorption? Occupation? Involvement? Leaving pedantry aside, people are simply saying that the ability to walk is important or significant to their enjoyment of the game. What is the problem you have with this? Regardless, I think you are taking a rather narrow view of the definition of immersion. http://www.goodgamesbydesign.com/2011/03/immersion-vs-engagement/ http://www.torkshaw.com/Immersion%20and%20Engagement.pdf Also, why do you reduce the desire for the ability to walk to the status of a whim? What exactly is capricious about people's desire to be able to walk?

I won't attempt to speak for anyone else, yet hopefully I can provide some insight into why this feature is important to me personally, though I would hardly describe myself as freaked out (it matters enough to me that I'll wait a few months in the hope it'll be patched in, yet I could play the game right now and enjoy it). I like to immerse myself into the world of rich RPGs, to feel like I am there in that fantastically beautiful and atmospheric land, evoked so vividly in my mind and imagination as a game like Pillars is capable of. I enjoy feeling like I am my character, or am 'there' with the party as we gather and venture forth to explore new and exotic places, or simply wander the increasingly familiar streets as we go about our business, adventuring. I like to slow down and breath when in the relative safety of towns or quiet moments, when we need not hasten and run, imperilled by our adventures. I like to take my time browsing the stores when spending our hard-earned loot and enjoy the local sights (those luscious 2D-painterly environments that become a living world). I find it discordant when I am unable to slow my pace to the 'reality' of the game world, when all other NPCs move differently I feel less a part of their world. Indeed, it is now their world and I am merely playing in it (please don't read me too literally here), no longer immersed in a world but playing a game. And when playing a game there is a tendency to sometimes rush through content, as efficiency and the too sorrowful constraints of time and pressure of real-life urges one on to achieve and complete. Sometimes I find myself as if under a hastened spell, running through a dungeon, and must take pause to breath and feel alive again. As in life, as in game. Immersion in an RPG is like this for me. One of the primary reasons I play RPGs is for an oasis away from the mad rat-race of adult life in my society - I take a long time to finish games, though my time is precious, savouring the experience. I don't want to be running everywhere. Btw, I assume we can all agree that including this feature would make the game better, even if our preferences accord it varying priority.

Hi I would say something welcoming but I'm pretty new here myself. Awh, shucks, welcome anyway!

Oh, is it not possible to only use your sig for some posts? I didn't realise it would show up in all my posts. Well, I guess i'll disable it for now then. Edit: It's still there in my other posts? Hmm, I guess I'll delete my sig for now until I figure out what I'm gonna do.

Another public thank you to LC for being awesome. I love my new coat of arms

Exactly, this is the crux of the issue. How reasonable it is to assume the player will know how to combat certain creatures and their abilities, at a given point in the game? 'Hard Counters' is not an all good or all bad issue. There is a spectrum of hard counters in the IE games, according to the predictability of encounters and the potential to be prepared for them. I don’t particularly like coming across an encounter that I literally cannot defeat even with infinite reloading because I need to go back to town to acquire specific item(s), memorise certain spells or whatever. This is neither challenging nor fun, even if it doesn't bother me as much as it apparently bothers others. What I do enjoy is the danger and excitement of powerful enemy abilities that require hard counter(s), so long as I can reasonably learn how to prepare myself to deal with them. I DO NOT THINK THIS NECESSARILY REQUIRES METAGAMING. I want to learn through playing the game how to combat unique monsters and abilities, not be able to just always make **** up as I go (tactically speaking). Perhaps the player can be warned through dialogue to beware the banshee’s gaze or whatever before undertaking a quest that would encounter such creatures. Perhaps the gameworld can include bestiaries that once found or purchased and read, update your journal’s bestiary and provide information about creatures notable abilities and how to counter them. After all, it seems logical that an adventuring party would start out with limited knowledge of how to fight certain monsters (and other humans, wizards etc), and that some adversaries would have unique abilities that must be countered in specific ways. Since learning how to fight different adversaries is a natural part of these games anyway, I believe that gameplay is enriched when players are more actively involved in this learning process, rather than such key information being spoonfed or resulting from trial and error, aka metagaming. I also think the issue (note again I said issue, not problem) of hard counters in the IE games was greatly exacerbated by the vancian casting system. This should be (at least partially) addressed by grimoire swapping, which should enable more immediate access to counters. Although this still necessitates certain class requirements for party composition, this in turn can be offset be having multiple solutions to hard counters through scrolls, potions, salves, magic arrows etc. The problem then becomes how to balance the availability of countering solutions while still making preparation strategically engaging. Stun’s example of fighting clay golems is a good one to illustrate this point. The player needs to learn (ideally through exploring the gameworld rather than metagaming) that such creatures require magical blunt weapons to damage them, and so prepare or adapt during combat accordingly. I think it reasonable to require an adventuring party to be equipped with a variety of skills and weapon types to deal with the diverse array of adversaries they can expect to encounter throughout such a fantasy setting. Yonjuro’s example of encountering an adventuring party similar to yours provides another good illustration. Perhaps this party has a grimoire or two at the ready with some dire spells you must counter or you’re screwed. Combat begins and you don’t have immediate access to the counter - a party member or two is taken out of action, yet you are able to switch grimoires and bring them back into the fight, losing precious time because you weren't immediately prepared. Alternatively, your priest may have an ability that affects the same counter, or you may have a magical salve in your backpack that does the trick. However, if you have not learnt what the correct countering spell is or your priest does not have that skill and you have no such salves, scrolls or any of the few ways to counter that spell... you are dead because you are not prepared to deal with the threat. To me the issue is not ‘hard counters are bad and need to be removed’, but rather ‘hard counters are an exciting tactical element that require multiple available solutions which the player can reasonably learn through exploring the gameworld, so as to facilitate and reward intelligent preparation and play’. The issue then becomes how to reasonably inform players of how and when to prepare, while still making preparation a balanced, thoughtfully engaging strategic aspect of gameplay.

I like this, its a great idea. Their are so many new words in the lore it would be helpful to practice how to pronounce them. I'm a good speller, I can spell rouge right and everything. Were do I sign up?

Those screenies are just glorious. So, so beautiful. I think I need to squee a bit here. Leaving any issues aside for the moment, I just want to say this update has made me very, very happy. And not just because of ooh pretty. Not just because of this update. The depth of lore, attention to detail and care with which this game is being crafted is an absolute pleasure to behold. It's like seeing a long-cherished dream slowly becoming real, before your very eyes. A big thank you to Josh and all the crew, for taking the time to engage with us on the forums. It's especially nice in updates to have some questions answered and is greatly appreciated. It is no small thing being entrusted to bring back the Infinity Engine magic, and in some ways is not an enviable task. Thank you for your dedication, patience and passion. I imagine that working at Obsidian must be really nice, different in a very special way, now that Eternity is cooking in your kitchen. Respect.

What are you talking about? This thread is awesome. Granted it has become more argumentative than the earlier discussion of sharing and expressing views, and there has been some incivility, yet I'm highly enjoying listening to people express what they enjoyed and found frustrating in the IE games. As others have commented, all this talk is making me really excited for Eternity. It's as if you don't find anything of value in dissenting opinions. Though if your comment was supposed to be a meaningless throw away joke I apologise for misreading it, ignore me and carry on